The shouts that Minister for Cyber Affairs David Amsalem directed Sept. 13 at Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit were highly unusual even for Israel’s deeply divided “unity” government.

Tension was in the air when the government convened for its weekly session, after canceling the previous two scheduled meetings, to discuss a proposed nationwide lockdown in response to the dramatic uptick in COVID-19 cases that is to begin Sept. 18. Also on the agenda were the protests the night before by thousands of Israelis outside the prime minister’s residence on Jerusalem’s Balfour Street calling for Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation.

That same morning, ultra-Orthodox Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman resigned his post, claiming the proposed lockdown would keep hundreds of thousands of Jews of all stripes from praying in synagogues over the upcoming High Holidays, especially the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur (Sept. 28). Litzman also accused the government-appointed coronavirus czar, Dr. Ronni Gamzu, of singling out ultra-Orthodox Israelis for specific discriminatory restrictions.

Litzman’s claims highlighted a persistent public argument — why allow densely packed political protests and at the same time ban large prayer services? Mandelblit told the ministers that the so-called “coronavirus law” the Knesset had enacted stipulated four exceptions to bans on gathering: the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), the media, the courts and protests. His comments seemed to suggest that even under lockdown, it would be legally difficult to ban the protests on Balfour Street. If the government wants to prevent or limit protests at lockdown periods, it will have to advance a specific law on that, he said.